A conventional upholstered furniture item, such as a sofa, is typically manufactured from a frame, which is upholstered in a material such as cloth, fabric, leather or the like. This manufacture and assembly occurs at a factory unit. A volume of the completed products are then transported to consumers' premises and/or retail outlets in a common geographical area, typically as a vehicle load by road transport. For large volumes a single goods trailer can be loaded to capacity with said chairs, sofas or sofa beds for delivery to a particular geographical area with the manufacturer waiting until they have sufficient orders for units to fill the trailer to justify the economic cost of sending the trailer to that area. This waiting period can result in delays of days or weeks in the delivery of the items.
A problem with conventional sofas is that these items are relatively bulky and, therefore, can be expensive to transport. The price of sofas and similar upholstered furniture can be significantly increased by the cost of transport, e.g., taking into account related delivery services such as an overnight delivery.
A further problem often experienced by the consumer who purchases a conventional sofa or similar item of furniture from a retail outlet or a manufacturer is logistical challenges in getting the item back to their premises. The consumer may hire or borrow a trailer, van or roof rack that is large enough to accommodate the item of furniture, or may have to pay for delivery by the supplier. Such arrangements can add cost to the purchase and can be difficult for the consumer to organize. Additionally, the consumer may have difficulty installing the furniture at a desired location without causing damage to the item and/or to the premises, for example if there is a need to remove fittings such as doors windows or the like during the installation.
One approach to addressing the drawbacks of factory assembled furniture items involves providing individually upholstered subcomponents as a ready to assemble (“RTA”) furniture kit. The individual components can be more efficiently packed, and RTA designs allow the furniture item to be assembled in situ eliminating the difficulties of navigating the furniture item to an installation site. However, an inherent challenge of RTA furniture kits is that the consumers who assemble the furniture kits are typically untrained and may not have ready access to the tools necessary to assemble the subcomponents. In addition, aligning the heavy subcomponents to install the fasteners for connecting the subcomponents can be difficult, particularly if a single individual is assembling the furniture item. If the fasteners are not properly installed the structural integrity of the furniture item could be compromised resulting in collapse and/or injury of users.